17th
February 2003
Audio
of K Raghavendra Rao's 100th film 'Gangotri' was released in grand
function organized at Annapurna Studios on 16th February 2003.
The film 'Gangotri' would be hitting marquee on 29th of March
2003. The artwork for the dais was done by Ashok. The who and
who of Telugu film industry graced the occasion. The shooting
was done without giving any information or holding press meets.
Aswini Dutt and Allu Arvind are producing this film on 'United
Producers' banner. Allu Arjun (son of Allu Arvind) and Aditi Agarwal
(sister of Arti Agarwal) are making their debut through this film.
ANR,
Chiranjeevi, Mohan Babu, Hari Krishna, Nagarjuna, Venkatesh, Srikanth,
Nepolian (Tamil), Mahesh Babu, Prabhas and Vishnu Vardhan are
the heroes who graced the occasion. The audio release of this
album is done in a unique style. K Raghavendra Rao has dedicated
each of the songs to his parents, producers, technicians, actors,
press, distributors-exhibitors and audience. Chandra Bose penned
six songs and Veturi wrote the title song.
Giving
the welcome address, Allu Arvind explained how the project
was conceived. KRR is a director who is respected by all the producers
who had produced films earlier with KRR and hence all of them
decided to produce 100th film of KRR together. Allu Arvind and
Aswini Dutt formed 'United Producers' banner on behalf of all
of them. KRR did not see Allu Arjun for a couple of years and
when he saw Arjun at a party, KRR is said to have mentioned to
Arjun that he has qualities of becoming a hero. In a gap of two
days, Aswini Dutt approached Arjun with a proposal and that's
how 'Gangotri' was conceived.
Talking
on the occasion, ANR said that he is a fan of Keeravani
for the melody he provides. He also mentioned that directing 100
films is not a milestone. But directing a good number of meaningful
films is more important. He said that the film Annamayya is enough
for K Raghavendra Rao to prove his mettle. He also jocularly said
that Annamayya gave a fitting reply to those critics who ridicule
that KRR is a director who concentrates more on navel of heroines.
ANR praised Chandra Bose by saying that he has good qualities
of becoming a singer.
Hari
Krishna said that he is like a brother to KRR. Hari Krishna
worked as production controller for films - Driver Ramudu, Satyam
- Sivam, Pattabhishekam - directed by KRR on Rama Krishna Horticulture
banner. Hari Krishna praised KRR as DB (Darshaka Bishma).
Mohan
Babu said that he is a lucky hand. He gave opening clap for
3 films and all of them became super hits (like Osey Ramulamma).
He graced only one audio function so far for Allari Priyudu, which
became a blockbuster. He said that 'Gangotri' is his second audio
function and wished that it would become a big hit. He said that
he approached KRR in 1990 when he was financially broken and requested
KRR to direct 'Alludu Garu'. Mohan Babu claimed that because of
'Alludu Garu' his acting career continued as hero. Mohan Babu
said that he is very fond of Allu Arjun. He also mentioned that
Allu Arjun once told him that he likes his action more than what
he likes in Chiranjeevi.
Chinni
Krishna said that he prepared the story of Gangotri to direct
it. But, he was afraid that he couldn't do justice to it as it
needs a director of KRR caliber. Chinni Krishna is proud of Ganga
River and is feeling sad that Ganges is not flowing in AP. He
wished that KRR would get Ganges in form of 'Gangotri' in all
the movie halls in AP. He also mentioned that special credit should
be given to the crew and cast(Allu Arjun, Aditi Agarwal and Prakash
Raj) for the 2000-feet climax.
Nagarjuna
in his short speech mentioned that KRR is the most comfortable
director to work with. KRR also possesses good PR qualities and
he pampers his cast and crew. He suggested that all the new breed
directors should go for training at KRR about how to behave before
directing the films.
Venkatesh
humbly mentioned that he was a rookie when he acted in his first
film 'Kaliyuga Pandavulu'. It was KRR who taught Venky everything
about acting. He also felt that he had difficulty working with
other directors after he made his debut through KRR.
In
a brief speech in English, hero Allu Arjun thanked everybody.
On the contrary non-Telugu girl Aditi Agarwal wished everybody
with 'Andariki Namaskaram' and thanked each and every crewmember
in helping her to perform better.
Chiranjeevi
started his speech with good humor. He moved away from the place
where other heroes are sitting and jocularly commented that 'Dushtulaki
dooramgaa vundali!', because the heroes have been teasing
others from back when somebody is delivering speeches. He said
he missed acting in 100th film of KRR along with Nagarjuna and
Venkatesh because the story did not work out. Allu Arjun was lucky
enough to grab that offer. Chiranjeevi said that he had to wait
for seven years to act as hero in KRR film (Adavi Donga). He also
said that KRR calls him as 'babai'. Talking about the friendship
between KRR, Allu Arvind and Aswini Dutt, he said a funny event
that occurred. During the release of Paradesi, these three people
were traveling in car and it stopped at Punjagutta traffic post.
A girl was begging for money by approaching all cars. But when
she approached these guys car, she ignored them and moved on to
the next car. KRR immediately commented that 'may be that girl
came to know that we lost all our money because of 'Paradesi'
film's flop.
Talking
about Allu Arjun, Chiranjeevi said that Arjun is a very good dancer
and he has shown some glimpses of talent through the dance bits
in Daddy. He said that Arjun has got the best qualities to become
a good actor. He has fear and reverence towards work. At the same
time he is extremely confident when he faces camera. Chiranjeevi
said that even after working for so many films, he never had a
good sleep when he had a difficult scene to be shot on the following
day. Likewise, Allu Arjun also had many sleepless nights before
he appeared for important scenes in the film. During the shooting
of Lankeswarudu, Chiranjeevi observed the 7-year-old Arjun going
towards the cheetah, which was brought for the shoot and playing
with it.
Talking
about Aditi Agarwal, he said that she is a wonderful actress and
was lucky to get a performance-oriented role right in the beginning
of her career.
At
the end of the function, Arti Agarwal distributed a cassette each
to the people who were present on the Dias.
Sidelights:
1. Allu
Arvind mentioned in the beginning that no questions about Johnny
should be asked.
2. Tanikella Bharani and Suma anchored the event. Raju Hirwani
is the audio producer. Allu Arvind accompanied all the guests
to the dais and Aswini Dutt gave flower bouquet to the guests.
Keeravani explained the situation of each song and Chandra Bose
sang a couple of songs with good modulation.
3. When Srikanth entered floor, anchor Tanikella Bharani commented
that after seeing India's performance in Australia in world
cup, one gets an idea that Tollywood cricket team could play
better.
Fact File:
Out
of 100 films directed by KRR so far
1. KS Prakash
handled camera for 63 films
2. Satyanand wrote dialogues for 42 films
3. Paruchuri brothers wrote dialogues for 20 films
4. Chakravarthy scored music for 44 films
5. Keeravani scored music for 17 films .
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